Critic Reviews

The truth is that Nightfire feels slightly under par when compared to what it could have been. If this review has read slightly negatively, it's not because Nightfire is a poor game (it wouldn't have scored this well if it was), far from it. The problem is that it doesn't do anything we haven't seen a dozen times before from other shooters this year. Is that too much to ask?

James Bond 007 : Nightfire was launched in a hurry without a careful study of the Bond universe and without delivering a satisfying experience. If you think this is enough to keep you playing then go and buy it, if not you'd better stay away.

If all you want from your first-person shooter is mindless blasting, then this might not be quite your cup of tea, but if you want to immerse yourself in a world of international espionage and battle over the Net against (or even as) some of your favourite Bond villains, then 007: Nightfire is definitely worth a look.

It's hard to fault 007 Nightfire, although you'd like to based on its many shortcomings. Maybe it's just because there are so few James Bond based PC games, or that most of them are even worse than this one, but to be honest, if you are a Bond fan, and you like first person shooter style game play, then you probably won't go wrong by getting this one. But if you aren't a Bond fan, and you just want a good first person shooter, then you will likely be disappointed.

In the end, Bond leaves us with a bittersweet taste. It's enjoyable enough to easily become the best Bond title on our platform (not a hard feat), but lacking enough in so many different ways, which happen to be the fundamentals that make up the shooter, that it can't hope to hold a seat in the upper echelons of the genre.

007: NightFire is frustratingly inconsistent. You get some of the atmosphere from the films, but mainly in the cutscenes. You get a mix of guns, gadgets, gorgeous women, and glamorous locales, just as you'd expect from anything with "James Bond" in the title. Those things alone can make the game enjoyable part of the time. Despite its strengths, though, NightFire too often feels like a dated, generic shooter. Bond deserves better.

In conclusion: 007: Nightfire is very inconsistent. You get all the things you would expect from a game that’s derived from the Bond movieseries: guns, gadgets, beautiful women, exotic locations, fast cars, an unequalled intromovie, etc… But the game engine is old and that reflects on the gameplay. This would have been a top-notch game three years or so ago. Hard-core gamers don’t need to bother with this game, but I would definitely recommend it to less demanding gamers. In my opinion, this is a perfect “stepping-stone” game… sell this to an amateur gamer … and he’ll get hooked on fast action gaming.

From all the negative points that I've made so far, it may sound as though I consider this a poor game. In fact, that's not the case; in reality I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although certain parts of it got a bit tediously repetitive, on the whole I found it great fun.

While NightFire is hurt by its relatively short length, the game's single-player mode is pretty well constructed. However, the multiplayer component is more or less broken. The PC version of NightFire makes an excellent case for leaving James Bond on console systems, as it really doesn't compete with what the PC has to offer. Unreal Tournament 2003 and No One Lives Forever 2 are infinitely better choices for multiplayer and single-player shooters, respectively.

EA’s latest Bond romp is a ferocious misfire — aiming low and tragically hitting its mark. It’s an irony that only a master criminal being devoured alive by his own bionic piranha could savor — that No One Lives Forever and its sequel, jaunty pokes-in-the-eye at the Bond movie franchise, are far better games than one starring the venerable superspy himself.

As it stands, Nightfire is a lightly entertaining Bondesque shooter that falls way short of my expectations for all the reasons mentioned here in the review. Personally, I'd never buy this game. Then again, it is my job too be nitpicky, so those of you who have money to spend, love James Bond (in a non-sexual kind of way), and don't mind being frustrated over stupid game design decisions, may enjoy this one. And just for the record, I don't have an axe to grind with EA. It's not my fault that two of their latest games for the PC (MOHHA: Spearhead and Nightfire) were poorly designed. I call it as I see it.

Overall, I found Nightfire's levels and plot were average. The basic run-around-and-shoot people mode was satisfactory and the 007 gadgets were fun. Except were security cameras are involved, there really were no adverse consequences if you lost your stealth. Other tactical shooters (like the Rainbow Six series) do a better job of delivering the tension and illusion of realism. Other shooters such as Unreal Tournament series deliver better multiplayer and gaming environments. And other games like Call of Duty employ superior A.I.

Every time you load Nightfire up, you are met with the spinning EA logo and a whispered, “Challenge Everything!” Now that’s irony. If you buy Nightfire for PC, the only thing that will be challenged is your patience. In this iteration, James Bond scores only a double-oh seven…squared. It’s all the more disappointing coming from the same developer that made Half-Life Opposing Force, and the PC port of Tony Hawk 3 (widely regarded as the best version of that game) and the same publisher that brought us Battlefield 1942 and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. We know they can do better!

The problem lies in the way you coast through the levels without any real sense of progress or achievement until you realise you're finished. Garnish this enormous flaw with a smattering of smaller niggles in the unresponsive controls, bad AI, a tacked-on afterthought of a multiplayer mode and some ridiculous bugs and you're left with another extremely unsatisfying attempt at the Bond license. Next!

James Bond 007: Night Fire is probably the most successful educational game I have ever played. Gearbox Software is
be commended for the incredibly clever implementation of Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ seminal work On Death and Dying, specifically the good doctor’s live stages of dying. By playing through NightFire, the intrepid gamer is able to expel an agonizing demise without ever truly risking mortality. All that really dies in NightFire are joy, pleasure, and a small part of your soul—a small price to pay for such a great lesson on misery. While it is tempting to think that Gearbox Software simply released the most incompetently crafted shooter in living memory, NightFire’s uncanny and unrelenting march through the five stages is too spot-on for its excruciating journey to be anything other than psychological genius.

It's kind of unfair to hold 007 Nightfire to the same standards that Goldeneye 64 established; after all, it is a different company with a different design team. However, Goldeneye 64 set down very clearly the kind of gameplay balances and designs that separate a Bond game from a typical first-person shooter, and Electronic Arts has done the unforgivable by ignoring what they should have learned from Goldeneye 64 and giving rise to a mediocre, boring first-person shooter that fails to live up to the Bond legacy. Furthermore, Aspyr's 1.0 release is so buggy that even the most desperate of Bond fans will most likely have trouble making it through Nightfire. No matter how you look at it, 007 Nightfire is a disappointing title that doesn't have the personality or design skill behind it to hang as a true Bond title, nor the solid gameplay, multiplayer, and polish to hack it as a regular first-person shooter.